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A man charged with selling aerial fireworks without a license will have to view tonight’s New Year’s Eve celebrations from inside an Iwilei halfway house.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard Puglisi on Friday granted Brandon Kaai’s release from custody on a $25,000 unsecured signature bond. The release, however, is not authorized until after 10 a.m. Monday. In the meantime, Puglisi ordered Kaai on lockdown at the halfway house Mahoney Hale.
Kaai, 42, of Waimanalo, had been in custody at the Federal Detention Center since his arrest Wednesday.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says in court documents that Honolulu police made an undercover purchase of 18 commercial-grade aerial fireworks Dec. 14. The ATF says on the following day it assisted Honolulu police in making a purchase of 180 commercial-grade aerial fireworks through a confidential informant.
The documents do not indicate from whom the purchases were made.
Then on Dec. 19, the ATF says, another confidential informant identified Kaai as a person who sells aerial fireworks and made arrangements for a controlled buy at Kaai’s workplace in Kaneohe for $1,400 worth of fireworks. The ATF says at the completion of the transaction, Honolulu police moved in and seized 799 pieces of aerial fireworks and a number of other types of fireworks.
They also seized three unregistered firearms, two handguns and a rifle, from the business’ safe, of which Kaai claimed ownership.
The ATF says the business owner, Kaai’s girlfriend, told police she knew that Kaai was storing fireworks at her business and had told him to get rid of them. She is not charged with any crimes and is the custodian responsible for Kaai during his release.
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